Why is the student community indifferent to the fate of the spaces in the Original Student Center? These spaces hold historical significance for UCSD. Groundwork Books began as a book cart in the 1970s, selling works on political theory, history and other educational topics. The Food Co-op has been around since 1978, providing environmentally and ethically conscious items. The Che Cafe was established in 1980 as an eatery, show venue and as a place for alternative education. The General Store Co-op opened in 1980 as a student-run market, and after the opening of Price Center in 1989, it became the cost-effective alternative for all student needs. And, though the Crafts Center was not a student-run space, it was used by many students, members of the community and  students of other universities (where a place like it was missing).

The Crafts Center had been around for 40 years before the administration abruptly shut it down in the fall of 2012 “for renovations” — but now it has been abandoned and left to rot. Will the Food Co-op, the General Store Co-op, the Groundwork Books Collective and the C.H.E. Cafe Collective experience the same fate? I hope not, because without these spaces, UCSD has nothing (academics aside) to set it apart from other campuses. UCSD is the only University of California campus with numerous, diverse on-site, student-run co-ops. Is this not something to be proud of? It seems neither the administration nor the students consider it to be.

This June, Porter’s Pub will be kicked out, as the administration refused to renew its lease, citing low revenue, lack of adherence to campus policy and overall student dissatisfaction as the cause (who did they poll? Obviously not the Pub’s regular customers, who are undergraduate and graduate students alike, faculty and staff). It seems that the administration is attempting to slowly convert the Old Student Center into a mini-Price Center. The student body needs to band together to stop the administration from shutting down every space of alternative culture on campus. The problem is that the minority no longer has a say. These spaces were established as a means to give the minority a place on campus. If UCSD is attempting to eradicate diversity on its campus, it is doing a fantastic job! And, with the indifference of the student body, now is certainly the perfect time. Let’s set aside our differences for a moment and support diversity on campus. The minority can no longer get by alone.

– Karemy Valdez Muir College, senior